Destinies: Book One: Frost
by Song of Silver Raven
Summary: Set upon ThunderClan is a new prophecy about kits with strange powers, one that will tear apart relationships and love for many moons. Its terrible hold will only be released when the deadly fire is quenched... But doesn't fire always melt ice?
1. a l l e g i a n c e s

**THUNDERCLAN:**

LEADER:

Goosestar: grey and white tabby tom, green eyes (lives left: 2)

DEPUTY:

Brightsky: white she-cat with silver patches, blue eyes

MEDICINE CAT:

Willowbird: pretty silver tabby she-cat

WARRIORS:

Lionstrike: gold and grey tabby tom, dark blue eyes

Copperclaw: copper-furred tom with long claws

App. Sunpaw

Ivyshade: dark silver and tortoiseshell

Treefall: dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Ripplelight: silver and blue-grey she-cat

App. Moonpaw

Mudflight: dark brown tom with pale spots

Mintfeather: pretty grey tabby with green eyes

Harestep: dark cream tom with pale brown paws

Frostbelly: pale grey tom with white underbelly

App. Sparkpaw

Sorrelblossom: dappled gold tortoiseshell

Ravenmist: black she-cat with iridescent silver markings

Pounceheart: long-legged dark-grey tabby tom

Brackentalon: bracken-colored tabby tom, amber eyes

Thunderstreak: dark-grey tom, gold eyes

APPRENTICES:

Sparkpaw: grey she-cat with unusual golden markings

Moonpaw: silvery-white she-cat, pale grey-blue eyes

Sunpaw: russet and gold pelted tom with bright amber eyes

QUEENS:

Petalbreeze: white tabby she-cat with silver speckles (mother of

Lionstrike's kits: Icekit, Silverkit, and Goldenkit)

Whiteflower: pure-white she-cat, green eyes (mother of Copperclaw's kits: Firekit, Rosekit)

Mothshine: pretty gold tabby (mother of Thunderstreak's kits:

Lightningkit)

KITS:

Icekit: lavender-grey, blue-grey, and metallic-silver mottled she-kit with ice-blue eyes

Silverkit: silver she-kit with grey tabby swirls, eyes which fade from light gold to dark gold

Goldenkit: gold, silver, and dark-grey mottled she-kit with eyes that fade from deep lavender to dark blue

Firekit: deep ginger tabby tom, with eyes the color of smoldering cinders with a tinge of blue

Rosekit: pretty dark-cream she-cat with silver tabby markings, pink nose, and bright green eyes

Lightningkit: handsome dark gold tabby tom, with bright amber eyes and oversized paws

ELDERS:

Flowertail: once-pretty tortoiseshell and white she-cat, oldest cat in ThunderClan

Cherrywing: deep red tabby she-cat, green eyes


	2. p r o l o g u e

**PROLOUGE xx**

Whispers swirled around the camp of ThunderClan. The returning cats from the gathering were all gathered beneath the Highrock, knowing that there had been something important needed to share with the remaining cats and that their faithful leader, Goosestar, would announce it soon. As accordingly planned, the grey and white tom leaped onto the rock and gazed down at his clanmates with large, gooseberry green eyes.

"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" Was that a hint of worry in his tone? No one could be sure, but all the cats gathered beneath the sacred rock, anxious to hear what their leader had to say. "As some of you may know, ShadowClan has been causing problems for the Clans once again." Some rolled their eyes, as if to say, what else is new?, but the ones who had been at the Gathering all had blank expressions.

"Vain Shardstar, as you know, always has been wanting the best for her Clan now matter how brutal her ways to get it are – some of you have witnessed this from their prey-stealing seasons ago – and now she is demanding more... only it's not prey. She says that ShadowClan has not had new litters for two seasons, and although a few queens are expecting, their apprentice den is near-empty and all the queens are due in at least another season." He sighed before continuing. "Shardstar is demanding that all Clans give ShadowClan at least three kits each, and if they don't deliver by next moon, ShadowClan will launch an attack."

Gasps spiraled up from the crowd. Angry voices cried out in disbelief – "Give them our kits? She must be mousebrained!" and "Who would actually give up their kits?" and "Oh, StarClan, help us and protect our kits!" and "But what will _we _do?" Goosestar silenced the cats with a flick of his long tail. Once again he let his voice ring out from the tall stone to circle the ears of all the cats' presence. "WindClan compromised with ShadowClan that they will give them three kits in exchange for three pieces of prey. This tells us that WindClan are so weak they do not want a fight and need all the prey they can get... Though foolishly everyone knows they can't bargain with ShadowClan." He sighed.

ThunderClan rose into a caterwaul of disapproval and outrage. Goosestar could hardly raise his voice high enough to settle the cats down once more. "RiverClan and ThunderClan have told Shardstar that if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get. Songstar also promised an alliance with ThunderClan, should ShadowClan choose to go through with their mouse-brained promise and attack us." Yowls of approval rose from the cats below, but worried expressions were still plastered hard to most's faces as they padded away to their dens... Their warning of the attack made the attack seem even more scary than if it were a surprise attack... They had a moon to wait, and then..


	3. c h a p t e r 1

"Hey! That's not fair! You surprised me!" The wailing cry of a little kit rang from the nursery all around the Stone Hollow, ThunderClan's camp. Some warriors just rolled their eyes at the loudness from such the small creature – they all remembered what it was like to be a kit, and they all knew that the Stone Hollow multiplied the volume of voices very easily, and so most shrugged it off. But back in the nursery, the queens were groaning at the endless chatter of their kits. Icekit squealed as her tail was stuck in the grip of Firekit, a dark ginger tom. She tried to twist around to face him and wriggle her long tail out of his grasp, but with no such luck, she was caught.

_One day, I'll be holding an enemy warrior's tail down!_ The thought of that almost made Icekit squeak with delight out loud, but thought better of it – they would just make fun of her more for her high-pitched voice even though she was the oldest kit. Arguably, so were her sisters Silverkit and Goldenkit, but they had much sweeter, lower voices to other's ears – her mewls were just, well, annoying. "Let go of me, okay! You win, you win!" She felt the grip on her tail loosen and sighed, twisting around to lick it smooth. Suddenly she felt weight on her shoulders and fell over, pinned down on her back by Firekit. He smirked.

"What? You said I won! I was just making sure of my victory!" Icekit rolled her eyes, then while he was distracted with the pride of his easy catch, twisted out from under him and swept his front paws from under him as she did so, sending him sprawling on his back. She rolled out of the way just in time – well, almost. Her tail got stuck. _Again._ She squealed even louder and yanked her tail from him, feigning hurt in her ice-blue eyes.

"Ow! For StarClan's sake, Firekit, can't you at least _try_ not to always step on my tail?" For good measure, Icekit decided to nip him on his hind leg, but knowing her usual tactics he jerked away just before she bit him, causing Icekit to fall face-first in the moss beds. She yowled, her deep pink nose turning bluish like her fur... only it hurt a lot more. "Ow ow ow ow! Fire_kit_!" At his name, the kit stood up and brushed himself off. Icekit sent burning glares at him, to which he responded with a flick of his tail and a cocky expression.

It was then that her siblings decided to walk in. _Oh joy,_ the little she-kit thought. It wasn't that she didn't _like_ her siblings, it was just that, well... They always seemed to get in the way of _everything_. If she was having fun with Firekit, then they would come in and tell him that they were hurting her. So what if he was, they were _playing, _right! And besides, just because she was the runt of the litter didn't mean she couldn't take care of herself... _Right? _Icekit let out a soft sigh, barely noticeable. "Firekit! Have you been taunting Icekit again?" For StarClan's sake, why did Goldenkit have to act like her mother!

He swished his tail from side to side, trying to keep a "what do you mean?" straight face, but to no avail he burst out laughing, falling to his side roaring with laughter. Icekit looked at her sisters with a, "stay out of my fur!" look. They returned it with two identical, "we're just trying to help!"

But couldn't they see Icekit didn't _need_ help? Annoyed, she spun around on her toes and padded more towards Firekit, nudging him playfully. "Come on you lazy lump," she whispered, "let's go tackle them!" Exchanging glances at her two annoying sisters, he nodded and shot to his paws. "On three we attack. I'll take Silverkit and you deal with Goldenkit. Kay?" He nodded again.

"Okay. One..."

"...two..." he continued.

"...THREE!" They yowled, caterwauling into the silver and golden pelts of Icekit's siblings. They squeaked with surprise – _finally, they learned how to squeak!_ Icekit thought with a hint of amusement – as the two other kits pulled at their back fur, scrabbling to get a hold at their long, elegant fur. Out of the corner of her eye, Icekit could see Goldenkit wasn't managing too well against Firekit's powerful build and smart battle tactics. But her fight with Silverkit was different.

Icekit had tried to dive under her sister's belly, but when she did Silverkit had rolled over and squashed, then had leaped nimbly back up while leaving Icekit dazed. Icekit tried to scramble back up equally as gracefully, but before she could do that Silverkit had leaped onto her back, sending her falling to her side. Though, thinking quickly, Icekit countered by rolling over, this time Silverkit the one being squashed, only it didn't work as well due to Icekit's size. And then Silverkit rolled over again... and then Icekit did... until they were locked in a tussle of rolling over, as it was the only battle strategy they could both think of at the time.

Once more Icekit felt Silverkit's weight crash down onto her and wanted to yowl out in pain. Her body felt like it was bruised all over... Then, suddenly, she felt Silverkit's weight being lifted off her and opened one eye, seeing her mother pulling Silverkit from her, and Whiteflower pulling Firekit off Goldenkit. Petalbreeze dropped Silverkit sternly on the ground, as did Whiteflower, which left Icekit and Goldenkit still in their surrendering battle positions. Why hadn't she remembered that Silverkit was the better fighter? Why had she offered to take her on in the surprise attack? Firekit was a much better fighter... and Icekit probably could have dealt with Goldenkit, and then their mothers wouldn't have to have interfered! And so close to their apprentice ceremonies too.. Icekit gulped.

"Kits," Petalbreeze began, her voice firm and sounding like it was just about to deliver a punishment... which it was. "Who is responsible for this—"

"Icekit and Firekit!" squealed Silverkit and Goldenkit in unison. Icekit opened her muzzle to explain, but was cut off by Firekit, who always had a thing for words. She hoped that he would be able to get them out of trouble – or else, who knows if they would even get to ever become apprentices? She would have to watch Silverkit and Goldenkit become 'paws, and then watch Silverpaw and Goldenpaw be named Silversky and Goldenbreeze, or something, and then still be Icekit..

"Let me explain. Icekit and I were playing, right, and then Icekit was winning, but then Goldenkit and Silverkit came in and started saying, 'Firekit, are you hurting our sister?' which distracted Icekit because she got mad because she didn't want to always be 'looked out for', which gave me the chance to win again, right? And so then Goldenkit and Silverkit got mad – not minding the fact that Icekit was having _fun _despite the fact she was losing again, and they tried to attack me to help Icekit, but then Icekit and I teamed up and we got in a fight." Genius! Now all she had to do was keep her siblings quiet – which was pretty easy, especially because of Goldenpaw's short attention span.

"Hey look, is that a butterfly!" Icekit whispered to her sister. Goldenkit turned and ran off to chase the imaginary butterfly. Silverkit, in turn began to call her sister back saying there was no butterfly, but Icekit stepped on her tail and instead Silverkit let out a soft squeal of pain. Icekit smiled – her work was done.

Petalbreeze and Whiteflower gazed intently at Firekit, as if trying to see through the lies he was spinning, but came up unsuccessful. They shrugged. "Well, don't let it happen again. You shouldn't be play-fighting that hard from now on. Why don't you go and see the elders for a good story or two instead of tussling with each other all day, okay?" Firekit and Icekit both nodded eagerly then darted off to the Elder's den, happy to get out of trouble.

"We sure fooled them, didn't we!" Icekit yowled happily as her paws carried her light body towards the Elder's den. Firekit nodded and shared her glee.. Until his expression changed back to its usual arrogance whenever he was around her.

"Just don't expect me to go easy on you next time, kitten~" He smirked. Icekit growled at his pet name for her, and halfway to the Elder's den she tackled him and knocked his paws from under his deep ginger body, sending him plummeting to the ground on his stomach. She placed a paw on his forehead, and hissed in his ear.

"I told you, _don't_ call me kitten, it's annoying! And I'm not a kitten! I'm only a half-moon younger than you!" She said, though her voice almost came out like a wail and instantly regretted it. She pulled away from his ear and dashed off the rest of the way to the Elder's den, not glancing back to see if he was following.

. . .

She squeezed into the Elder's den, which was nicely shaded and felt warm and cozy. Curled up next to each other were the once-pretty shapes of Cherrywing, a deep red tabby, and Flowertail, a tortoiseshell and white former queen who was the oldest cat in ThunderClan. The sound of her pawsteps entering the den stirred Cherrytail, who yawned and stretched, then gazed with piercing green eyes at the small kit. "Have you come to hear a story?"

Firekit chose this moment to arrive. Cherrywing looked at him, too. "Ah, so I suppose you _both_ want a story, correct?" She peered at them oddly for a moment, then her gaze softened. "I suppose you two almost got in trouble?" Icekit shivered. How did she know _everything?_ There were rumors, of course, that Cherrywing had at first had medicine cat training before she had fallen in love and resigned as an apprentice still, but it was still rather... odd.

She sighed. "Well, maybe if you fetch me some fresh-kill.." Before the old she-cat finished, the two had already dashed off for the fresh-kill pile. Icekit struggled to keep up with him, wishing she had Goldenkit's long, quick legs at the moment.

"Last one to the fresh-kill pile is a ShadowClan cat!" he hissed in her ear, then raced on ahead of Icekit. This made her _angry_. She liked him, sure, but he was always trying to be better than her! Suddenly she felt her limbs burn with fire and her veins course with ice – and this gave her strength. At the speed of lightning she quickly overtook him... and she reached the fresh-kill pile. But she couldn't stop. She kept running, nearing the stone wall near the entrance... the world was a blur... she closed her eyes, hoping StarClan were preparing themselves to welcome her.. but the impact of the wall never came. She opened her eyes.. and she was out of the camp.

_How!_ The fire died down in her limbs and she suddenly felt exhausted and slowed down, coming to a halt many fox-lengths from the camp entrance. She hadn't remembered turning to the entrance.. and she nad ever felt the tugging of brambles at her pelt. She wondered if that was because she was so small the brambles didn't reach her, but –

Icekit's train of thought of cut off as the world began to spin around her. Cats leaped out from all directions around her, smothering the scents of the forest with their rank stench. It made her dizzy. She felt one cat pick her up roughly by the scruff, and then she heard yowls and screeches coming from the direction of the camp, then she thought she heard Firekit's voice... and then her world went black.


End file.
